The Englishman, currently occupying the 10th and final automatic qualifying spot on the European Ryder Cup points lists, had carded a disappointing three-over-par opening round of 73 at unforgiving Oakland Hills on Thursday, but got the bit between his teeth in round two.

Rose carded four birdies and a bogey for a second round 67 to move to even par for the tournament at the halfway stage.

That put him just one shot behind the big-hitting American JB Holmes, who claimed the second-round lead with a solid 68.

Rose, seeking his first major triumph, was as delighted with his scoring as he was to have finished his round early in the day with the breeze stiffening at Oakland Hills.

American Ben Curtis also made headway to improve on an opening 73 with his joint best-of-the-day 67, while South Korea's Charlie Wi was the other low scorer among the early finishers with a second consecutive level-par round of 70.

"I'm ecstatic with that round of golf," Rose said.

"Three under par in those conditions was more than I could have hoped for. I know Ben Curtis shot three under too but the average score today is going to be very, very high and guys are going to have a hard time this afternoon so I'm glad to be done."

Overnight co-leaders Robert Karlsson of Sweden and India's Jeev Milkha Singh both started later in the day with the Swede struggling badly and Singh initially thriving.

Karlsson birdied his first four holes and had also bogeyed his ninth and 10th to tumble away from the top of the leaderboard with a 77.

Singh, meanwhile, striving to stay in contention, eventually fnished with a 74 to fall three shots off the pace.

Argentina's Andres Romero had also enjoyed a good opening round of 69, crashed out of contention.

As one of 18 players forced to come back early this morning to complete their first rounds, however, he suffered for having to go straight back out on the course for his second round, posting a 78.

Romero was not the only early starter to find the conditions hard going at Oakland Hills once again on a cool but sunny Michigan morning with temperatures starting in the high 50 degrees Fahrenheit and not expected to reach the 80s with more thunderstorms forecast for the late afternoon.

Ian Poulter, attempting to overtake Rose in the Ryder Cup standings, was one over par for his second round having opened with a four-over 74.

Poulter was angered by the course set-up and three particularly long par-three holes of 198, 238 and 257 yards.

"I drove it a little better and had more shots from the fairway which makes it a little easier, but you are just trying not to bleed to death out there," Poulter said.

"It's just like the PGA slice your throat on the first tee and you have to try and make it round to the 18th without dying.

"I wish I was a couple better yesterday, putted really well today with two putts for distance so it is okay but it is just frustrating when you stand on par threes and you are hitting five iron and aiming for a greenside bunker because you know that is the only way you can make par.

"That's pretty sad. I am very disappointed we are having to do that on such a great golf course just because of the infatuation of having to put 30 yards on par threes when they think we are hitting irons 30 yards passed where we used to.

"We might hit our drives 30 yards further but certainly not hitting our irons so why should we be aiming for bunkers to try and make par. That personally is not right, is not on, it's unacceptable."

Open champion Padraig Harrington returned following last night's one-over-par 71 and opened with a birdie.

The Irishman then bogeyed the 11th and 17th to go out in 36 and his back nine was less pretty, a birdie at 10 being undermined by three bogeys in a row at the third, fourth and fifth holes. Birdie at his 16th hole and bogey at the last left him at four over for the tournament.

"I just ran out of steam," Harrington said.

"It was a struggle for me. I did my best to be ready for the week but clearly I'm not.

"What can I say, the harder I tried the worse it got. I haven't got the focus this week. I'm just not with it.

"Obviously I'm still just having a hangover after winning The Open."

ALL THE SECONDS ROUND SCORES
(USA unless stated, par 70)

139 J.B. Holmes 71 68

140 Charlie Wi (Kor) 70 70, Justin Rose (Eng) 73 67, Ben Curtis 73 67

141 David Toms 72 69, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 71 70

142 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 68 74, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 71, Sean O'Hair 69 73, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 69 73, Ken Duke 69 73, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 70 72, Brandt Snedeker 71 71

143 Phil Mickelson 70 73, Paul Goydos 74 69, Steve Flesch 73 70, Boo Weekley 72 71, Briny Baird 71 72, D.J. Trahan 72 71, Nicholas Thompson 71 72

144 Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 73, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 73 71, Brian Gay 70 74, Tom Lehman 74 70, Steve Elkington (Aus) 71 73

145 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 68 77, Justin Leonard 74 71, Anthony Kim 70 75, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 72 73, Michael Allen 70 75, Alastair Forsyth (Sco) 73 72, Ian Poulter (Eng) 74 71, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 71 74, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 71 74

146 Steve Stricker 71 75, Pat Perez 73 73, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 74 72, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 72 74, Mark Brown 77 69, Dean Wilson 73 73, Paul Casey (Eng) 72 74, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 75 71, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 73 73, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 75, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 76 70, Camilo Villegas (Col) 74 72, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 76 70

147 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 77 70, Billy Mayfair 69 78, Chris DiMarco 75 72, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 73 74, Andres Romero (Arg) 69 78, Kevin Sutherland 76 71, John Mallinger 72 75, Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 77 70, Steve Marino 73 74, Mark Calcavecchia 71 76, Rocco Mediate 73 74

148 James Kingston (Rsa) 72 76, John Merrick 73 75, Paul Azinger 72 76, John Senden (Aus) 76 72, Bubba Watson 75 73, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 76 72, Peter Lonard (Aus) 74 74, Chez Reavie 78 70, Charles Howell III 72 76, Robert Allenby (Aus) 76 72, Jim Furyk 71 77, Mike Weir (Can) 73 75, Richard Green (Aus) 71 77, Corey Pavin 75 73, Tim Clark (Rsa) 76 72

-----------------------The following players failed to make the cut-----------------

149 Zach Johnson 76 73, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 75 74, Todd Hamilton 76 73, Brendan Jones (Aus) 71 78, Simon Dyson (Eng) 73 76, Tom Pernice Jnr. 75 74, Fred Couples 76 73, Bob Tway 75 74, John Daly 74 75, Frank Esposito 71 78, Rich Beem 73 76, Johnson Wagner 78 71, Ryan Moore 70 79

150 Vaughn Taylor 78 72, Adam Scott (Aus) 77 73, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 74 76, J J Henry 76 74, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 74 76, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 75 75, Jay Haas 73 77, Mark Brooks 74 76

151 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 70 81, Anders Hansen (Den) 75 76, Steve Lowery 74 77, Scott Strange (Aus) 73 78, Stewart Cink 75 76, Darren Clarke (NIrl) 75 76, Heath Slocum 74 77, Don Yrene 75 76, KJ Choi (Kor) 78 73, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 73 78

152 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 76 76, Alan Morin 76 76, Davis Love III 77 75, Tommy Armour III 79 73, Vijay Singh (Fij) 76 76, Chad Campbell 76 76, Stephen Ames (Can) 77 75, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 77 75

153 Jerry Kelly 79 74, Tim Weinhart 74 79, Ross Fisher (Eng) 77 76, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 76 77, Soren Hansen (Den) 77 76, Parker McLachlin 76 77, Sonny Skinner 78 75

154 Steve Webster (Eng) 78 76, Bart Bryant 77 77, Sam Arnold 80 74, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 75 79, Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 79 75

155 Jim Estes 79 76, Ben Crane 75 80, Ryan Benzel 77 78, George McNeill 78 77, Oliver Wilson (Eng) 78 77, Cliff Kresge 83 72, Lee Westwood (Eng) 77 78, Scott Verplank 77 78

156 Mathew Goggin (Aus) 81 75, Jeff Quinney 81 75, Rick Leibovich 78 78, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 76 80, Scott Hebert 80 76

157 Tim Thelen 81 76, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 80 77, Jeffrey W Martin 78 79, Greg Kraft 78 79, Jonathan Byrd 75 82

158 Curt Sanders 78 80, Kyle Flinton 79 79, Woody Austin 79 79, Brad Martin 77 81, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 80 78

159 Nick Dougherty (Eng) 77 82

160 Hunter Mahan 81 79, Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 76 84

161 Eric Dugas 87 74

162 David Long 80 82

163 Vince Jewell 85 78

169 Eric Manning 81 88

170 Bradley Dean 86 84